Marriotts Ridge clinches share of girls lacrosse county title

By Carol Gralia, howardcountysports@patuxent.com

Marriotts Ridge clinched at least a share of this year’s Howard County title with a convincing 19-6 victory over Glenelg on Tuesday. The Mustangs remain undefeated with one game left on their county schedule.

Marriotts Ridge was coming off a dramatic sudden victory overtime victory over archrival Mt. Hebron and coach Natalie Gaieski was worried about a letdown.

That didn’t happen.

Less than one minute into the game, Marriotts Ridge had two goals and, early into the second half, the Mustangs forced a running clock by having a 10-goal advantage over Glenelg.

The 10-goal difference shocked both sides.

“I wasn’t expecting that at all,” Gaieski said.

It has been several years since anyone has gotten a running clock on Glenelg.

“We just played flat the whole game. We just never picked it up,” said Glenelg’s Stephanie Asher. “I thought being down, 4-1, would be our chance to get angry and get back in the game but it didn’t happen.”

Glenelg called a timeout when the score was 4-1, but the next Gladiator goal didn’t come until the score was 8-1 in Marriotts Ridge’s favor.

“We tried to play better than we did against Mt. Hebron,” said Taylor Hensh, whose five goals had a great deal to do with the Mustangs having a successful Senior Day game.

“This was one of those days where the whole team clicked,” Gaieski said. “They had the flow. They were in the zone: all of them. …You could see that they didn’t feel pressure, they played relaxed and confident.”

That’s something she would like to bottle and take into every game, she said.

The 13-goal loss was one of the most lopsided in recent Glenelg history.

“We didn’t do any of the things that we had planned to do,” said Glenelg coach Ginger Kincaid.

One contributing factor in the outcome was lack of confidence, she said.

“When you don’t think you can win a game," Kincaid said. "Then you won’t.”